A state lawmaker is pushing for a law requiring school employees to report and document bullying.
HB 2415, sponsored by Rep. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, calls for disciplinary action against school employees, from administrators to teachers and janitors, who fail to file detailed reports about bullying.
“It puts a new accountability on schools,” Yee said.
It’s one of two legislative efforts to address bullying. A Democratic representative and senator have introduced identical measures dealing with cyber-bullying and bullying related to bias.
Yee said the issue of school bullying was brought to her attention by a constituent whose child, a high school student, was assaulted on the first day of school.
“The assault was done by a student already on probation,” Yee said in a phone interview. “He was wearing a tracking device.”
She said the victim suffered “brutish” facial lacerations and blacked out during the attack, yet the school failed to contact police or emergency medical services.
Her bill would require schools to contact emergency services including police and paramedics when appropriate.
“I strongly believe we must make our schools a safe place to learn and that students should not feel threatened by other students,” Yee said.
Jennifer Loredo, an organizational consultant of governmental affairs with the Arizona Education Association, said her organization wholeheartedly supports the concept, though it has no formal position for now.
“We want children to be able to feel safe in school,” she said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, and Senate Minority Leader David Schapira, D-Tempe, have introduced HB 2580 and SB 1549, dubbed the Arizona Safety Schools Act, which would require schools to address cyber-bullying and bias-motivated bullying.
“There’s a lot [of bullying] that goes on electronically with Facebook, MySpace, texting [and] using phones in other ways,” Hobbs said.
Sam Castañeda Holdren, spokesman for Equality Arizona, a civil rights organization representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, said his organization worked with the lawmakers to create comprehensive bill dealing with all aspects of bullying. He said he’d like to see Yee’s measure include a provision against bullying based on bias.
2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey:
Source: Arizona Department of Education
- The more frequently a student reported being bullied or harassed at school, the more likely they were to report lower grades.
- A significantly higher percent of males (29.9 percent) than females (18.7 percent) reported harassing or bullying someone else on school grounds.
- Both victims and aggressors of electronic bullying were significantly more likely to report lower grades.
- Nearly 23 percent of students reported being electronically bullied in 2009.
- Students who reported considering suicide also reported a higher rate of being bullied and bullying others in school.
Cerulean posted at 9:46 am on Mon, Feb 7, 2011.
Tookie88,
I appreciate that teachers have a lot to contend with. I was thinking of kindergarten thru second or third grade. Kids need a break as do teachers. Play acting games could be used to teach good manners. Also manners could be the subject of a writing lesson. Or just making sure that everyone is acknowledged in some sort of organized 'greet' each morning or I don't know; it seems that there might be all kinds of ways to incorporate 'manners' in the class.
[beam] Thank you for your work as a teacher!
Tookie88 posted at 8:52 am on Sat, Feb 5, 2011.
Also, the school will now be the "police" to enforce these laws? How about the parents control what their own chidlren do. How can schools be held accountable for cyber bullying when this is taking place at home? I am not saying it isn't a problem and that it doesn't leak into problems at school, but schools can only control what is happening on campus and cannot do anything about what is happening at home...and a majority of cyber bullying is being done at home.
Just a side note, most students have no clue what constitutes being a bully because many have not had a the guidance from the adults in their life. People just seem to have kids, go back to work, and leave it to the school system to raise them....parents don't "raise" their kids anymore and don't teach them manners. When children are left to their own devices, anything can happen and it usually isn't good.
Tookie88 posted at 8:20 pm on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
As a teacher, there are already district and state rules/laws for bullying. I would love nothing more than bullies to be suspended and not allowed back into school.
Here's the dirty truth: Schools are scared of loosing students, even the bullies....bodies in the desks equal money in the districts pockets. Schools are afraid of being sued...and believe me bully kids come from bully parents who threaten to sue at a drop of a hat.
Rich posted at 11:57 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
People are out of work, People are losing their homes and the real estate market is in free fall. Could you (inappropriate terms) get your act together, stop trying the micro manage our lives and handle the situation please.
Cerulean posted at 11:50 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
A new law is not appropriate for bullying in schools. In fact I think it is an abuse of the legislative system.
This is a problem that belongs with John Huppenthal. He needs to make policy reforms that encourage learning what good manners are. Apparently a lot of children do not have these basic life skills.
[sad] No new laws Mrs Yee. Lets see if Huppenthal can do a better job than Horne did.
momof5 posted at 4:15 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
My daughter has been a victim of bullies in public school. Most of the kids that are bullies are well known in the school for their behavior. The fact that school administrators are aware of these problematic children and yet these kids are still allowed to not just attend, but continue their behavior is beyond me. It just proves that more needs to be done to keep our children safe. Their behavior is disruptive in and out of the classroom. There is legislation already passed in Arizona in which bullying can be treated as a crime. It takes further legislation to hold school administrators accountable and responsible for reporting and documenting bullying. I strongly believe that it is the lack of documentation that assists in feeding this bad behavior and making it escalate as it has.
daniel001 posted at 1:36 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
This is absurd! Yes, faculty and staff should call police in the extreme case that was highlighted in this article but to require educational staff to monitor every child at their school or be penalized by the law is extreme! Would you shoot all tigers if one bit you? This is a similar analogy. YOU DEAL WITH THE SITUATIONS AS BEST YOU CAN WITHOUT OVERBURDONING AN ALREADY CRIPPLED SYSTEM!!! There's no need for a new law!